• Tweet

• Tweet

In the NBA’s Southeastern Conference, it is pretty easy to forget the Atlanta Hawks, especially with the Miami Heat and their Big Three of Lebron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh and the Orlando Magic with Dwight Howard and company.

After Saturday night’s game between the Hawks and Washington Wizards, the rest of the conference and the Association may now sit up and take notice.

14 fourth quarter points by Joe Johnson helped Atlanta rally and fend off Washington at Philips Arena 99-95 and remain one of three undefeated teams at 3-0.

The Wizards had their way with the Hawks early as they outscored them 27-18, but Atlanta methodically chipped away at Washington’s lead, finally taking the lead since the opening moments of the game when Josh Smith hit a pair of free throws with 2:47 left in the first half. The Hawks would lead 44-40 at the intermission.

The game would be tight through the third and fourth quarters, but Johnson would put the Wizards away after struggling theough the first three periods.

Perhaps his biggest shot came with less than 3 1/2 minutes left to go when he stepped back beyond the arc and drained a 3-pointer over Washington’s Al Thornton for an 89-84 lead and the Hawks would hold off the Wizards the rest of the way for the victory.

Washington’s bench scored only 10 points – all of them coming from Yi Jianlin while 29 points came from the Atlanta bench.

Johnson led the Hawks with 25 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 steals while Al Horford chipped in 21 with 10 rebounds and 3 assists. Jamal Crawford came off the Hawks bench to score 15 with a rebound, 3 assists and a steal while Smith added 12 with 10 boards, 3 assists, a steal and 2 blocks.

Rookie John Wall led the Wizards with 28 points, 5 rebounds and 9 assists while Thornton added 24 with 7 rebounds, an assist, 2 steals and a block. Andray Blatche chipped in 18 with 7 rebounds, 2 assists, a steal and a block.

Atlanta (3-0) plays again on Tuesday night when they travel to Cleveland to tak on the Cavaliers while Washington (0-2) returns to the Verizon Center and host the Philadelphia 76ers – also on Tuesday night.